Salisbury commits $113,000 to Holley Place cleanup

SALISBURY — The Board of Selectmen voted Tuesday, Sept. 22, to put $113,000 in available Small Cities grant funds toward cleaning up contaminated soil at the Holley Place affordable housing site in Lakeville.

Construction of the planned 14-apartment building at 11 Holley St. stopped after crews digging the foundation detected the smell of heating oil in June. First Selectman Curtis Rand told the board early last month that the cleanup was expected to cost between $165,000 and $175,000.

The developer, the Salisbury Housing Committee, is responsible for raising the balance.

Rand said the town has some responsibility for the cleanup because it owns the property.

The Holley Place allocation was one of four motions approved unanimously at the special meeting.

The selectmen also assigned $81,600 from the current budget’s affordable housing line to the Salisbury Housing Trust to renovate a two-bedroom house at 51 Bostwick St. in Lakeville. The trust bought the property in August and plans to sell the renovated home to a family.

The selectmen also designated $100,000 from the current budget’s affordable housing allocation for the Salisbury Housing Committee’s proposed Dresser Woods development, which would bring 20 affordable units to Railroad Street in Salisbury.

In a separate vote, they made what Rand called a “verbal, philosophical commitment” to earmark another $100,000 for the Dresser Woods project in next year’s budget. That second amount has not been appropriated.